Direct Supply Partners CEO, George Thornton and Fuzion Holdings CEO, Mike Steffeck Announce Strategic Alliance
Edgefield, South Carolina, (AgPR), January 5, 2010 -- Direct Supply Partners, LLC (DSP) announced today a strategic marketing alliance with Colorado based Fuzion Holdings. "It was obvious from the outset that DSP and Fuzion had very similar market access and strategic objectives. By providing certain business functions to DSP, both companies can leverage core competencies," says George Thornton, CEO of South Carolina based Direct Supply Partners. DSP is a crop input consultancy whose focus is on Supply Chain and Merger and Acquisition activities. This alliance enables DSP to expand its existing M&A activities into supply chain optimization. The supply chain practice will be focused primarily on regional cooperatives. "I have always had strong relationships with these cooperative managers and have always enjoyed working with them on a business and personal level. Aligning with Fuzion gives me the opportunity to further assist these companies in securing the most cost effective crop inputs possible while allowing Fuzion to manage the regulatory, financial and logistical functions." Under the non exclusive agreement, Fuzion will provide DSP members with key product and infrastructure services including sourcing, branding, financial and escrow management as well as managing the logistical functions. Fuzion Holdings, already with a broad stable of more than 20 crop protection registrations and adjuvants, immediately provides a strong product platform to go along with a sophisticated, efficient and patented business to business platform.
"The launch of our Fuzion Technologies products company and our Fuzion B2B retailer network has exceeded our expectations. Reactions by independent retailers and manufacturers have been very positive and we feel like we can carve out a nice little niche in the market. By working with George and DSP, we can further expand our reach while continuing to bring unique efficiencies and product offerings to all of our current Fuzion B2B partners as well as key customers that George will bring to the network," states Steffeck, CEO of Fuzion Holdings.
"This is a natural fit for both my vision of DSP as well as my own objectives. This agreement essentially propels my business ahead by as much as two years and takes a great deal of the back office burden off of my plate. I can focus on these key customers and partners without the distractions associated with back office infrastructure," says Thornton, an industry veteran with over 30 years of executive management experience in both distribution as well as in the manufacturing ranks. "I was especially impressed with Fuzion’s product portfolio and broad sourcing options. However what really attracted me to work with Fuzion was their innovative FuzionB2B network. This is clearly a powerful inventory management and sourcing tool for retailers as well as an innovative market access tool for manufacturers . Being able to offer my customers more than just products was very appealing to me."
Details of the marketing alliance were not disclosed.